Names
In the English language, ethnic Germans that originated in the Kingdom of Bohemia were traditionally referred to as ″German Bohemians″. This appellation utilizes the broad definition of Bohemia, which includes all of the three Bohemian crown lands: Bohemia proper, Moravia and Czech Silesia. In the German language, it is more common to distinguish between the three lands, hence the prominent terms Deutschböhmen (German Bohemians), Deutschmährer (German Moravians) and Deutschschlesier (German Silesians). Even in German, however, the broader use of ″Bohemian″ is also found.
The term ″Sudeten Germans″ (Sudetendeutsche) came about during rising ethnic nationalism in the early 20th century, after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the First World War. It coincided with the rise of another new term, ″the Sudetenland″, which referred only to the parts of the former Kingdom of Bohemia that were inhabited predominately by ethnic Germans. These names were derived from the Sudeten Mountains, which form the northern border of the Czech lands. As these terms were heavily used by the Nazi German regime to push forward the creation of a Greater Germanic Reich, many contemporary Germans avoid them in favor of the traditional names.
Read more about this topic: Sudeten Germans
Famous quotes containing the word names:
“The world is never the same as it was.... And that’s as it should be. Every generation has the obligation to make the preceding generation irrelevant. It happens in little ways: no longer knowing the names of bands or even recognizing their sounds of music; no longer implicitly understanding life’s rules: wearing plaid Bermuda shorts to the grocery and not giving it another thought.”
—Jim Shahin (20th century)
“To you, more than to any others, the privilege is given, to assure that happiness [of saving the Union], and swell that grandeur, and to link your own names therewith forever.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“It was a poetic recreation to watch those distant sails steering for half-fabulous ports, whose very names are a mysterious music to our ears.... It is remarkable that men do not sail the sea with more expectation. Nothing was ever accomplished in a prosaic mood.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)